In the past two and half months, I have been volunteering in a global digital project assigned by my Guru, HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam (fondly known as Swamiji) in preparation for the launch of the world’s first digital nation – ShriKailasa!
To me, this project has been an intense spiritual training ground to evolve each disciple in various dimensions such as leadership consciousness, completion of conflict-resolution, will persistence and mental strength, a real test to one’s nervous system as we undergo the demand of the workload and volunteering for long hours in different time zone.
I must say that all the spiritual knowledge and initiations that I received from Swamiji over the last 14 years had prepared me to take up the role of the project lead in this penance (tapas). In Vedic tradition, tapas is the necessary process for ultimate flowering. Tapas means breaking, destroying, not only the restrictive patterns, logic and belief systems, the very conscious foundation which restricts you, the principle of maya (illusion) – breaking it is called tapas.
Once Swamiji asked his Gurumātā Vibhūtānanda Puri: “Why such hard tapas is required? Why so much of tapas is required – means so much of austerity, facing difficulties, why all this is required?”
She laughed and said, “When you go through the tapas, the kind of understanding you will develop about you, even small things that come from society, you will feel that is a blessing. A small comfort from the world, you will feel that is a great blessing.”
The word tapas (penance) means nothing but integrating yourself, making yourself a single entity. Integrating the fragmented parts of our mind is the very essence of life. Integrating the feelings and the mind, integrating our face and our mind, ensuring that our face shows the same thing as what our mind thinks, is the essence of life. The intense effort to integrate oneself completely is what is called tapas. Penance always ends in auspiciousness.
In the ancient scripture of Taittiriya Upanishad, Bhrigu Valli, it says:
तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व
MEANING: Know the Brahman through Tapas
तपसो हि परं नास्ति तपसा विन्दते महत् ॥
तपसा क्षीयते पापं मोदते सह दैवतैः ।
तपसा प्राप्यते स्वर्गस्तपसा प्राप्यते यशः ॥
तपसा सर्व्वमाप्नोति तपसा विन्दते परम् ।
TAPASO HI PARAṂ NĀSTI TAPASĀ VINDATE MAHAT
TAPASĀ KṢĪYATE PĀPAṂ MODATE SAHA DAIVATAIḤ
TAPASĀ PRĀPYATE SVARGASTAPASĀ PRĀPYATE YAŚAḤ
TAPASĀ SARVVAMĀPNOTI TAPASĀ VINDATE PARAM
Translation: Agni Bhagavan says:
There is nothing higher than Tapas.
Through tapas, the great achievements are manifested
Through Tapas, the papas – sins get completed.
Through tapas, one becomes one with the Gods
Through Tapas, heaven is achieved
Through Tapas, fame, glory and grace are achieved
Through Tapas, everything is attained
Through Tapas, the Supreme Highest state of Brahman is manifested
During this period of pralaya (rejuvenation) and Covid19 pandemic, it is the best time to do tapas to strengthen one’s nervous system and raise in consciousness . I would like to share with the world seven tips that had helped me in strengthening my nervous system.
Let’s understand the nervous system. Our bodies couldn’t operate without the nervous system – the complex network that coordinates our actions, reflexes, and sensations. Broadly speaking, the nervous system is organized into two main parts, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
The CNS is the processing centre of the body and consists of the brain and the spinal cord. Both of these are protected by three layers of membranes known as meninges. The CNS receives sensory information from the nervous system and controls the body’s responses. The CNS is differentiated from the peripheral nervous system, which involves all of the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord that carry messages to the CNS.
The Upanishadhic seers, and Yoga masters had the knowledge as to how the mind works through prana that controls and governs various functions in the physical body. Neuro-biologists have found certain areas in the brain, by triggering of which (by electric signals through remove control) different emotions like laughing, anger, peace etc can be invoked. Stimulating hypothalamus can set up a series of reactions throughout the body to prepare the body for a fight or flight reaction. The mind changes the pranic distribution and thereby affects various functions in the physical body. When the mind is disturbed, the prana also gets disturbed which shows up as breathing haphazardness or imbalances.
Here are 7 tips to strengthen and balance your central nervous system.
- Morning spiritual routine – The morning spiritual routine is to repair your biological clock – repair yourself and tune yourself to the dharma. Morning spiritual routine tunes you to the biological rhythm. You’ll have a body you enjoy and love to be in. Your biological clock needs to be healed. You develop the most graceful body in which you are happy to live in. You clean a lot of mess you have done to yourself because of wrong food, wrong thought currents and wrong lifestyle. The morning routine brings about the right chemical changes in you and the healing it does in your system for tuning of the biological rhythm in your system.
- Keep your gut clean – Swamiji once said that if you keep your stomach clean then you won’t have worries. If you keep your navel clean as a routine with a proper sattvic diet, neem juice, active liver, proper natural laxatives (banana, castrol oil) by nature, you won’t have worries. Physical form of worries is constipation. If you are levitating due to awakened Kundalini shakti, you are going back to tanmatra – the ability to go up and come down in different frequencies – and each organ goes back to the subtlest form during levitation after Kundalini is awakened. That’s why many diseases will disappear because of tanmatra. To keep your gut clean, adhere to a sattvic vegetarian diet, avoid any processed food with refined sugar. Do periodic liquid fast like Nirahara Samyama (https://bfoodfree.org/ ) to allow the entire digestive system to detoxify and cleanse. Take castor oil and perform enema (Bhasti Kriya) daily to cleanse the entire digestive tract.
- Pranayama – Pranayama is the science of systematic harnessing of the panca pranas (5 actions of prana)s and mind and the Varistha Prana (main prana). From Hatha Yoga Pradipika, it states – ‘When all the nadis and chakras which are full of impurities are purified, then the yogi is able to retain prana.’ Gheranda Samhita describes – as bellows of the blacksmith constantly dilate and contract, similarly draw in the air by both the nostrils and then expel it out quickly, the air making a sound like bellows. Having thus inspired and expired quickly, 20 times, perform Kumbhaka, then expel it. Let the wise ones perform Bhastrika Kumbhaka thrice – he will never suffer any disease and will be always healthy.’ Taking long breaths, in particular, activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System (which controls homeostasis and the body at rest and is responsible for the body’s “rest and digest” function) especially doing yogasanas practice, emphasize the exhalation, making it longer than the inhalation, while mentally visualizing the energy flowing to different parts of the body.
- Sit with Paramashiva & be unclutched – Despite working in the American time zone, I never miss sitting my Guru in oneness. This is my favourite moment of the day i.e. sitting with Paramashiva (Source) after yoga practice and pranayama, just allowing the communion of samadhi to happen. It is the best time to infuse prana shakti and restful awareness. Just 30-mins of sitting in an unclutched space creates so much vibrant energy, silence and inner peace within you which grounds you to the reality of who you truly are!
- Take responsibility to complete with the past patterns. Your body, your outer space is a pure reflection of your inner space. When you feel angry, your body boils with anger. When you are in fear, your body trembles in fear. When you feel lustful, your body responds to the lust. One single thought is enough to activate your whole biology. When your inner space is filled with unconscious thoughts and patterns, you will not even know why you act the way you act. All the painful memories, and negative habitual thought currents are to be completed from your inner space through Science of Completion. When under tremendous stress while doing the Paramashiva ganas project, I witnessed how unconscious patterns of anger, social ego and non-involvement got triggered easily which threw one out of the pure space of restful awareness and completion. If you understand that responsibility means thinking, feeling, acting and cognizing life from the truth that you are the source of everything, therefore, you are responsible for all the happenings inside you and around you.
- Get back to principles of Ishana (liberation). Whenever a conflict presents itself in front of you, you tend to fall into the reactionary assumptions – which make you abusively explode, violent, aggressive, tantrums-throwing – and create a mess in the situation. Instead, Swamiji told us to apply the principles of Ishana (liberation), it means liberate yourself from reactionary assumptions. Then you will solve all the problems, you will manifest the best possibility and powers. If you decide and just unclutch, and sit in Paramashanta Swarupa (state of restful awareness), and see the whole thing from liberating principles, you will come to the higher state and you are liberated from the lower state. Whenever you unclutch, you are liberated from the confusion and you will get clarity about the whole situation.
- Practice of Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra, which is derived from the Tantra shastras over 4,000 years ago, is a powerful technique in which you learn to relax consciously. Yoga Nidra is a science which deals with the methodology of how to go beyond our reactive mind. In Yoga, sleep is not regarded as relaxation. True relaxation is actually an experience far beyond sensory diversions. For absolute relaxation you must remain AWARE. Yoga Nidra is the state of dynamic sleep which puts one in a deeply relaxed state for healing of the body, the entire central nervous system and the brain.
In summary, your ability to remain balanced and unclutched not only strengthens the entire nervous system but also it can take you to the space of oneness with the Source (Paramashiva). That is a great tapas! Namaste 😀